Page 49 - Phonebox Magazine April 2008

Out and About with Mark Lancaster
Our local MP
School Funding
Well they say never write anything in anger, but I write this with steam coming out of my ears after my exchange a few minutes ago with the Schools Minister Jim Knight MP during question time in the House of Commons.
I have written before over my concerns about the £50m shortfall that Milton Keynes is facing in school funding over the next three years, meaning in effect that the new schools and extensions to existing schools that we desperately need to cope with additional housing may simply now not be built. Back in October, Government tried to kick the issue into the long grass by saying that the special schools ‘safety value fund’ would be the solution to all our problems. Now though that the application is in, the criteria has meant that it has only been possible to apply for £14m from this fund, meaning that at best we will still be £34m short in desperately needed funding for schools. So today I tried to get the Minister to suggest what else we can do to fill this funding shortfall, alas all I received was a load of rhetoric that failed to even acknowledge the dire situation that Milton Keynes now finds itself in.
A frustrating business politics, but having hopefully managed to get the deficit down from an original figure of £65m to £36m, I can only pledge to fight on until we get the funding we deserve!
Mark at Cedars School in Newport Pagnell
here in Milton Keynes. To this end I have written to the Leader of the MK Council to encourage her to look at the business model to see if it may be applicable here.
Celebrating Milton Keynes’ Diversity
Finally looking back on the month it’s been even more varied than usual not least through a series of visits aimed at celebrating the enormous cultural diversity that Milton Keynes now enjoys which culminating in my attendance at the Diversity Ball at the MK Dons stadium on the 14 March. Other visits this month have included the New Bradwell Mosque, Tamil cultural forum, Sikh temple and the Milton Keynes Hindu forum all of which were great fun and demonstrated to me the great cultural mix that we now have here in the city.
Mobile Surgery
As promised the proposed mini mobile surgery dates are below. No need to make an appointment but please do ring the Newport Office on 01908 615757 if you would like further details.
Tuesday 15 April
Thursday 17 April
10:00-11:30 14:30-15:30 15:45-16:15
1000-1200 1300-1400 1415-1500
Newport Pagnell Hanslope
Stoke Goldington
Olney
North Crawley Sherington
13a High Street Market Square Village Hall
Market Square Village Hall Village Hall
Mark fighting to get our £50m school funding back from Gordon Brown
Post Office Closures
My campaign to get Government to reverse its decision to close five of our Post Offices here in Milton Keynes has continued this month with various media appearances on the subject, not least an in depth piece on the Look East politics show on 16 March. I have been quoted as saying that I think that the proposed consultation due to start in July is a shame and I stand by that claim, why else would the post office have published a map with specific post offices earmarked for closure nine months before the consultation is due to start?
I have however been encouraged by the success of Essex County Council in working with the Post Office to help try to find a joint way of working together to try to help struggling Post Offices to stay open. It is a complicated business plan that they have put forward, but there is no reason why something similar should not be looked at
MK Dons
Finally as you read this, like over 24,000 other Milton Keynes residents, I will have just returned from watching the MK Dons at Wembley in the Johnstones Paints final. After the clubs ups and downs in recent years, whatever the result it really has been a tremendous feat by Pete Winkelman and the team to have made only the second Wembley appearance in the Dons history. K
CONTACT INFORMATION
Mark Lancaster TD MP, 13a High Street, Newport Pagnell, Bucks MK16 8AR Tel: 01908 615757 Fax: 01908 618433
Phonebox Magazine 47